


Too Fast For Freedom

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Series: Infinity War Fix It [14]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-16 05:32:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14805302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: Valkyrie arrives with the Asgardian refugees.





	Too Fast For Freedom

Valkyrie looked blearily across the room and found Thor right away. He was with a number of people she didn't recognize, but that was fine. Even one recognizable face was good after the past two weeks in space. She stomped over to him, ignoring the concerned glances from the women in red armor. It hit a pained note in the back of her head, but she squelched it down ruthlessly. That was almost a reflex by now; millennia of practice made it easy to do, and what was another handful of deaths after all this time?

"I've been sober for the past week, Your Majesty," she said by way of greeting, ignoring the startled looks of some of the dignitaries around him. "Where's the drinks?"

Thor looked at her with too much understanding in his gaze, damn him. He raised a hand to stave off questions from some of the people around him and gave her a pained smile. "I am a guest in this country myself, and haven't tried looking for that much alcohol."

One of the men next to him raised his hand with a grim expression on his face. "You like scotch or whiskey?" he asked flatly.

"Whatever'll do the job the fastest," Valkyrie replied in the same tone.

"I'm Tony, by the way," he said, dropping the hand to extend it to her. She glanced at it for a moment, then decided _what the hell?_ and shook it. "I have lots of scotch, if that's okay."

"If it'll get me drunk, let's get it."

"Tony," Thor began with a sad tone.

"I'm a perfectly functional alcoholic, thank you very much," he replied without rancor. "And I'm old enough to know that this level of exhaustion and grief doesn't mix well with booze and picking apart weapons. Besides, Rocket's due for some fun, right? Have at it."

The raccoon in question looked up at him with a grim expression. "Not inviting me to the drinking party? Rude."

"Too much talking," Valkyrie growled. "Where's the alcohol?"

Valkyrie and Tony disappeared from the main meeting room, and Thor sighed as he glanced over at a stunned Shuri. "Not exactly how I imagined this going."

Shuri shook her head. "Come on, let's speak with the plains tribes. I think that's where space might be found for your people."

There were fewer survivors than Thor had hoped there would be, and his heart hurt at the sight of the bedraggled men, women and children. How many had still turned to ashes while in the ship? Surely Valkyrie had saved more than what he saw in front of him? It would surely explain some of her sour mood.

The plains tribes had been charged with keeping up the fiction of Wakanda's lack of technology. Most of them actually preferred the more rural and agrarian lifestyle, and didn't like the influx of strangers into their land. "There are places elsewhere you can go to," one of the men had said in irritation. The tribe leader himself was silent, but much of the tribe elders present were more than willing to speak up instead. 

Thor nodded. "My father had been in Norway for a time before his death. We could probably petition for amnesty there," he said quietly. "My remaining people are cobblers, weavers, farmers, all people of craft and labor. Whatever aristocracy there was on my world was devastated and destroyed in Ragnarok." His voice was heavy with remembered pain, and he made no effort to hide it. "We would be citizens of whatever nation would allow us entry, and I would not force our ways on any other people."

"Thoughtful words," Gugulethu said, watching Thor closely. "There is concern that others would seek further power and destruction in these times. We are herding tribes, and we know full well what happens if a herd is culled too quickly. The rest of them either die off, or they overpopulate their enclosures and overwhelm resources. News all around the world tells me that the disappearances are a culling, but it was not appropriate or healthy. There was no discernment in it, no thought or care to actual resources or needs of the planet."

"It was killing for killing's sake," Thor agreed. "Thanos is a creature that believes in his own lies and fictions, and would kill those that oppose him. Yet there is nothing we can do _but_ oppose him. He is wrong, his whole order is wrong, and there is much still we must do to track him down and end his miserable life."

"Strong sentiment."

"Truthful," Thor said with a nod. "I am their leader by default, but I have been asked to aid the Avengers in defeating Thanos. Valkyrie had protected them, and she will likely want to do the same." 

"There is hardly a monopoly on attempting to defeat the man that would kill entire worlds," one of Gugulethu's men commented. As before, he ignored them.

"What do you ask of me, then?" Gugulethu asked, chin lifting a notch as he stared down Thor.

"My people are long lived and hard working. I know they will be a credit to whatever nation that we join. I have met your queen, and have trust in the might and justice in your nation. I ask for a place they may call home, to rebuild and live in safety."

"I will think on it." Gugulethu looked over at Shuri and bowed respectfully. "Our opinions had always mattered in the past, and I hope this is the same now."

"Of course," Shuri told him, nodding solemnly. "Which is why I have not commanded that you take them. If the dynamics of your tribe and the lands cannot support refugees, then we will appeal to the world."

Gugulethu snorted. "I don't like what we see of the world."

"It's not all bad," she said with a wry shrug, "but it's not home."

He nodded and gestured for the others in the meeting hut to bring more food and drink. It was the usual posturing and politicking that Thor never used to have patience for, but he smiled in all the right places and remained polite through all of the veiled barbs that the other men sent his way. It wasn't about him anymore, it was about those that were left, the helpless ones relying on him to be their king and Allfather. That responsibility was humbling, and his mind whirred with what ifs and maybes.

"We'll find them a home," Shuri assured him at the conclusion of the dinner. "If not here, then elsewhere. You will not have to worry about them when fighting in space."

Thor knew he had plenty of other worries as it was.

***

Natasha found a very drunk Tony Stark sprawled in one of the meeting rooms that they were allowed to use in the palace. Beside her was a woman wearing worn silver and white armor, a blue sword strapped to her side, guzzling thirty year old malted liquor as if it was water. She took in the other empty bottles around them and felt the corner of her mouth quirk up in amusement. "Any left for the rest of us?" she asked, her throaty voice soft yet still startling the woman.

She stared at Natasha in suspicion, taking in the red Dora Milaje armor and her pale skin. "You're not from around here."

"No," Natasha agreed. "But closer than you. Not that it really matters." She shrugged. "There are all kinds of different pathways to pain and misery, and none really take precedence over another."

"Everyone's lost too much," the woman muttered, then guzzled more alcohol.

"Not going to save any? Really?"

"Get your own," she snarled without heat.

"I'm Natasha. I see you've already met Tony." She thumbed the hall behind her. "There's a lot of us here that are going to fight, but we're starting with the armory that Nebula knows about."

"Nebula," the woman echoed, slamming the bottle onto a table and startling Tony out of his snooze. "That bitch."

"She got just as royally screwed as the rest of us in this mess."

She rubbed her face and let out a long sigh. "Yeah. Yeah, we all have." She looked up. "Brunnhilde. Last of the Valkyries."

Natasha nodded at her and entered the room. "A lot of lasts here," she murmured, sitting down beside Valkyrie. "So we know what it's like to lose, and we know why we have to keep going."

"Brave words."

"There's only so far that you can run, and you can never outrun yourself," Natasha murmured.

"Spoken like someone who's tried."

"Yes," Natasha agreed, not elaborating. She snagged the bottle from Valkyrie then took a long swallow herself. "Long stories, boring for other people to listen to."

Valkyrie stared at her for a moment, then nodded. "There' always a fight, though. Isn't there?"

"Some give you the satisfaction of revenge." Natasha's eyes remained haunted as she smiled at Valkyrie and took another swallow. "Maybe then we'll be free of it, and can finally be fast enough to outrun ourselves."

"But you've given up hope on that a long time ago."

Her laughter was harsh and bitter, and Valkyrie seemed to understand it. "Where I was raised, they said love is for children. Hope is a silly dream. There is no place in the world for me." Valkyrie definitely seemed to understand that kind of sentiment. "But that isn't true, I know that. So I'd rather run as fast as I can in the dark to make sure no one else has to be raised that way."

"What's the plan?" Valkyrie asked after a long moment.

"Nebula doesn't think that the armory is a safe plan because of the lethal consequences for failure. Then again, she doesn't have the same types of expertise the rest of us have. I've been having her go through simulations of the operating systems and programming code so I can hack it. Tony's good at that, too, so the two of us might be able to bypass those systems. We're working with the assumption that besides munitions, there will be other drops and locations, maybe indication of where Thanos went after he won."

"Gloating bastard," Valkyrie grumbled. "I'd like to wipe that smug expression off his damn face."

"We can always use more fighters in this."

"Fighters are one thing," Valkyrie said. "We need leaders and commanders in the field that can address all of the contingencies. There's on the ground fighting, ships and battalions, and that sorry excuse of a pleasure vessel I flew here is not going to be good enough to attack."

"Nebula contacted the Ravagers, and a lot of the ships on Earth here are all being retrofit to allow for space travel."

"Huh. Could be a decent plan."

"Want to meet Nebula and Okoye?" At her questioning look, Natasha shrugged. "Okoye is the general, and leader of all the Dora Milaje. Those are the warriors I've joined here."

"Going against a weapons depot with lethal force if you can't get in... Sounds like a suicide mission."

"Pretty much."

Valkyrie leaned over and snagged the bottle back from Natasha. "Better stock up on the drinks if I'm coming with."

***

The plains tribe wasn't comfortable with more refugees coming to stay permanently; Bucky hadn't been bad, but he had been one man keeping to himself. This was an entire nation, and they needed space to live and prosper. The small farms on the outskirts wouldn't be enough for them. Finland offered up space for the Asgardian refugees, which Thor gratefully accepted. There was no one to rule them in his stead if he and Valkyrie both were heading out into space.

Thor closed his eyes and felt the static energy rising beneath his skin, the frustration given form. He didn't want to leave them unprotected, but at the same time, the Avengers needed him. There was no one else that could-

A spark flicked off of his fingers and one of Rocket's notebooks caught fire. He patted it out idly, then stared at Thor. "They'll be fine, you know. They got this far, they'll do okay."

Heaving a sigh, Thor let the energy settle back into place inside of him. "But they're my responsibility. My people." He gave Rocket a plaintive look. "I need to look after them."

"And you will. When Thanos is dead and everything is really settled. Otherwise, what if you have to run to a whole other planet? Lemme tell you, that sucks."

"They've run long enough," Thor insisted.

"Maybe. But if they're not really free, not really safe, then they're gonna need to run even farther. Everything's broken, Lightning bug. There ain't no wishing it back to how it was."

"Unless we get the gauntlet."

Rocket snorted. "You must be dumber than you look. C'mon. Eyes on the prize, and charge up the batteries for these robots. We need a working army to take down the weapons depot. Nebula's shit at hacking, and I don't think your friends are gonna learn the programming languages fast enough. So it's got to be me up there to get the doors open. So I want working bots to keep the death drones off my back, got it?"

"The navigational computations haven't worked so far."

"Your girlfriend will be here tomorrow," Rocket huffed. "If she's as smart as everyone says she is, she'll be able to help get us there with the crappy amount of fuel this rock has."

Thor scowled at him but didn't say anything. "We're not..." he began finally.

"Oh, shut it and stop being stupid. Half the universe is dead. No idiot argument is more important than that. Say you're sorry and suck it up."

He scowled even deeper at him. "Why do you think it's my fault?"

"You're a guy. You're stupid. Easy math."

Swatting Rocket's arm, Thor shook his head. "You don't understand..."

"Stop running, Thor," Rocket said, putting down the soldering iron in his hand. "There always comes a time when you gotta stop running away. Take it from me and don't learn the hard way."

Thor patted Rocket's head and nodded. "I'll speak with Jane, and get my people to Finland. The ships might be ready by then."

Rocket shot him a look, then picked up the iron. "Maybe you're not as dumb as you look. Maybe you're actually a King."

"They call us the Allfather," Thor said faintly, thinking of his father on the cliffs of Norway. "Protector of the people of Asgard."

"So helping the universe is a side benefit? Gotcha." He nudged Thor's arm and nodded at the batteries. "C'mon, those things won't charge themselves."

It was easier to take out his frustration by charging batteries.


End file.
